Membrane effects of Cocoa Procyanidins in Liposomes and Jurkat T Cells

We investigated the effects of the interaction between flavanols and related procyanidins (dimer to hexamer) with both cell and synthetic membranes, on bilayer fluidity and susceptibility to oxidation. Cocoa derived dimers (0.05 to 1 µg/ml) protected Jurkat T cells from AMVN-mediated oxidation and i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: SANDRA V. VERSTRAETEN, PATRICIA I. OTEIZA, CÉSAR G. FRAGA
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2004-01-01
Series:Biological Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-97602004000200016
Description
Summary:We investigated the effects of the interaction between flavanols and related procyanidins (dimer to hexamer) with both cell and synthetic membranes, on bilayer fluidity and susceptibility to oxidation. Cocoa derived dimers (0.05 to 1 µg/ml) protected Jurkat T cells from AMVN-mediated oxidation and increased plasma membrane fluidity. These effects occurred in a concentration- and chain length-dependent manner. In liposomes, procyanidins prevented the Fe2+-induced permeabilization of the membrane. Together, these results support the hypothesis that procyanidins could interact with the polar headgroup of lipids, increasing membrane fluidity and also, preventing the access of molecules that could affect membrane integrity
ISSN:0716-9760
0717-6287